In writing this, I realized that my instinct used to be to try as much as possible to create ‘the perfect time’ before I would try anything new, so that it would feel safe to do because I’d planned so much. Naturally, life would happen, and things would happen to delay my progress, and I would see it as not the right time to get started. Thankfully, as a result of working at Roadtrip Nation, I’ve learned to say “yes” to opportunities and envision myself where I want to be. But more importantly, I feel I now have the ability to solve problems on the fly.

In trying to take my passion for letterpress printing further, I’ve team up with a great support network of friends who are also getting their crafting businesses started and together, we’ve encouraged each other that we can do this. We’ve applied for the craft shows we could picture ourselves being at, instead of trying to have a full line done before applying and feeling stressed over that. The most tangible piece of learning I’d like to share though is to break your big goals down into day by day tasks (I use teuxdeux.com to track these tasks), therefore making them manageable. As each day passes, I’ll complete one small piece of larger picture. After a full day of work, sending off one more email or doing a few minutes of research on something really focused seems easy enough to do, and in doing so, I’m one step closer to finishing.

Carving out time and energy to pursue your passions you can sometimes feel a little daunting, but the further I delve into this, the more I’ve felt rewarded and encouraged to keep going. So to all you out there that might be struggling to fit in your passion, my advice is: just go for it! (even if it’s just a little bit at a time.) I’m super excited for what lies ahead in exploring my passion for printing – if you’re interested in following along my journey, you can like Metal Doily Press on Facebook.